Author: Jessica

My CSA farm has a Facebook page for members to share recipes and ideas for how to use up what we get in our basket. Last week we got shiso, so I asked what everyone was making with theirs. The only two members who responded must have thought I meant shishitos because they said they roasted them, pickled them and ate them raw. Hrmph. (In all fairness, they probably get their baskets on a different delivery day and hadn’t gotten any shiso yet, but still…).

Cowpeas, or southern peas, are something I had never heard of until just a couple of years ago. I started seeing them sold fresh at the farmers’ markets and high-end grocery stores, where they go by names like purple hull peas, lady peas or cream peas, depending on the cultivar. Continue reading “Cowpeas”→

I decided to attempt another tricky European cookie this Christmas: this time Norwegian sandbakelse (also “sandbakkels” or “sandkaker”). They are a crisp almond-flavored sugar cookie baked in special aluminum tart molds. I have probably only had them once or twice, over 30 years ago, and as far as I know, no one in my family makes them anymore. Although they are very tasty, they’re kind of a pain. I haven’t quite decided if they’re worth it yet. But when I took the first bite, I did think: “Oh yeah, I have definitely had these before.”

I’ve always hesitated to write about Christmas cookies because, honestly, they’re kind of boring to read about unless you’re specifically looking for a recipe. And everyone already has their favorites anyway. But I figured Springerle are different because they’re so pretty and old fashioned. I know Springerle as a Southern German cookie, but Wikipedia says they’re eaten in Switzerland, Alsace, parts of Austria and Hungary too. Although they basically taste like an anise-flavored sugar cookie, the process for making them is different than a standard sugar cookie. And not just because of the beautiful molds used to shape them.

Inspired by Tiffany’s post about doing something extraordinary, I decided to write up something I do all the time: make fritters out of vegetables that need to be used up or that I’m sick of eating. Today’s version was potato, leek, turnip and carrot, which is a favorite. All I had were purple carrots, which I don’t particularly care for, but they turned out pretty tasty.Continue reading “Fritters”→